Thursday, May 1, 2008

Superlibrarian The Display

I am putting together a lobby display for the library called "The Librarian As Superhero." It is a bunch of different pictures mainly. Giles from Buffy, The Librarian: Quest For The Spear, Batgirl, Rex Libris, Nancy Pearl and her action figure. I actually got two copies of the Super Librarian comic book from the New Jersey State Library Association, one in spanish and another in english. I think the display should be kind of interesting. They also sent me a bookmark.
The Super Librarian comic book is here:
http://web.mac.com/ndowd/iWeb/Super%20Librarian%20Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day/Welcome.html

Last night was rather interesting. I sat with a new part-time librarian at the reference desk for two hours, and did two tours of my sections, law, business, and the job information center. It was kind of different showing people around.

I've been reading Earth The Sequel on the subway this morning. It is about different companies that are developing renewable energy solutions to our current dilemma with oil and global warming. The book talks about quite a few breakthroughs which I had not heard about. It also talks about a company that I am invested in, Finavera. It also writes about Greenfuel Technologies, Verenium, and other new ventures. Two people were talking energy policy on the train in this morning. I was sitting next to them while I was reading my book as they bantered back and forth. It was kind of entertaining.

I've taken a few minutes to look at Batman, The Dailies, 1943-1946, Sterling Publishers, c2007. The syndicated strips are far more different than the comic books. The first part is that they are stories about crime. Batman gets captured, he gets beat up by thugs, he makes daring escapes. He uses his brain a lot. There are very few supervillains. Most of his opponents are pirates, gangsters, grifters, and assorted criminals. There is a brief appearance of the Joker who uses laughing gas, but that is about it. The dailies are in black and white. This is Batman as he first appeared without all the bells and whistles done as his creator intended. The cover is a bit misleading, there is no Catwoman, no Two Face in the black, and no Pengun in the black and white comic.





In Batman, The Sunday Classics, 1943-1946, Sterling Publishers, c2007, the Penguin, Joker and Two Face make brief appearances. I rather like the style it is done in. The drawings are a lot simpler than the modern comic books. They have a more cartoonish quality to them. There is the bat cave, but it is not as complicated. There is the bat car, the laboratory, and the bat plane. The utility belt of Batman and Robin don't have a million devices in them. They have a bat walkie talkies, matches, and simple things. Bob Kane is often the penciller. They have a set of brief one page biographies on the artists. The Sunday edition is in full color.

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